Assistant Engineer Tips

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philbagg

philbagg

Just Killing Time
Hello peoples :)

This might be in the wrong forum but there didn't seem to be anywhere that fit
it exactly. :p

I could be expecting a few assistant engineer jobs over the next few months in
a major studio and I'm just wondering if any of you experienced engineers out
there have any tips on the role. Things like etiquette/people skills etc.
A step by step guide would be perfect but I'm not expecting that :D

I just really really really really don't want to mess up any good opportunities. It's
kinda scary :eek:

Cheers,
Phil
 
I think it mostly equates to using good judgment, instinct and being very watchful of what's going on. Every studio is a little different, so I talk from my own personal experience. It's gonna sound kina dickish, but that's cause I'm sayin just like all my bosses told me. :D.

The general attitude of a good assistant is that of a loyal servant. It's a lot of bitch work, there's no dancing around that. Alot of "yes sirs" and "I can do that" type words. Alot of painful jobs like making coffee, making food runs for everyone and zeroing out the gear. If you're a free spirit "play by your own rules" kinda guy, you'll have to find a way to suppress that until you branch out on your own. I've gotten in trouble for that many times.


Some notes:

1) Don't expect big strides right away. Have patience. A former colleague of mine, Aaron Gandia, works as the head engineer for a studio called Phat Planet in Orlando. He really busted his ass for a year to get there, so expect a long haul.

2) Get to know your boss. Obviously if you find his sweet spot, you're making brownie points.

3) Learn to wrap a mic cable *properly*. This one actually gets many assistants fired on the first day in some studios.

If the engineer can't lay out the cable without it tangling, there's a good chance that's gonna piss him off. If done properly, you should be able to "uncoil" a cable effortlessly across the floor without any knots.

4) Studios prefer assistants with "multiple" talents. In other words, read up on Martha Stewart's "10 ways to make a great cup of coffee".

5) When dealing with a client, take your cues from your boss and let him do the talking. Trust me on this. I had another colleague of mine that opened his mouth at Madonna and got himself blackballed. He's flippin burgers now. True story.

6)Study during the downtime. Study *everything* about the studio. The patchbays, mic inputs, the console (and the 100 page manual), the inventory, methods...every detail possible.

7)It helps to have knowledge about basic electronics and basic studio repair. The most sought after jobs right now in the studio are technicians. Mixing and recording engineering is a very over saturated market right now. I had a friend of mine who landed himself a nice job at Big Shot Studios here in Orlando because he offered to wire up the studio for free. All it took was some basic soldering know-how. Studios LOVE it when you fix broken mic cables (which are really easy to do if you have a soldering kit).

8)Develop thick skin. You're gonna get yelled at, abused, tortured, chewed out...you name it. Don't take it personal, it can get pretty rough with some of the personalities that exist in the music industry.

Nevermind the long hours with little or no pay. If you stick with it, the benefits will come.

9) I guess it really comes down to this one: just use common sense and try to have fun :)

If your bosses can see that you're having a good time, getting shit done, show up when asked and taking initiative...you'll get called back, trust me.
 
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Lee you are my hero :D

It's a big bad world out there I'll say that much. At least I already do a fantastic
cuppa :D

I'm still a little worried about the "little" things (little in real-life, life or death in
the studio world). Like "don't speak unless spoken to". What to do if you're
asked your opinion on something even if it's absolute rubbish. Or even if you get
those few minutes where you have nothing to do. I wouldn't want to be
constantly asking "what can I do now?" but I would probably shit myself before
I sat down just in case I'm thought of as lazy. You know what I mean?

LeeRosario said:
5) When dealing with a client, take your cues from your boss and let him do the talking. Trust me on this. I had another colleague of mine that opened his mouth at Madonna and got himself blackballed. He's flippin burgers now. True story.
Click to expand...

I'd be very interested to find out what happened here. Care to share? :)
 
philbagg said:
I'd be very interested to find out what happened here. Care to share? :)
Click to expand...


haha, funny you ask, because you kind of touched on it. Well apparently he was assisting a session in New York about 3..maybe 4 years ago...

and so there came a point where Madonna wanted his "opinion" on some take she did or something like that. Everyone else had left the room on a break. Instead of doing the smart "oh I thought it was great" routine, he went and started making suggestions about changes he thought would make the song better.

That was a big no-no. So I guess she was offended by that and brought it up to the studio manager. Long story short, he was let go that day and told he would never work in a studio again.

But also, I wanna add that he did screw up in a couple other occasions. Like I heard he dropped a reallly rare and expensive mic that needed to be sent out for repairs. And instead of being honest about dropping it, he lied to the studio manager and said "I found it like that". Big no no. He got screwed really bad.

In fact, because of that, they actually complained to the school we trained at (Full Sail) and they actually added a "Studio Ettiquette" class because of him. An entire month dedicated to proper manners in the studio.

Unbelievable.

oh one more thing:

*know the roles of everyone in the studio*. The studio manager, secretaries, assistants, runners, head engineers, technicians, etc.
 
when the producer asks "what do you think???" he dont want to know... he wants you to ask him... at least for the first half dozen times....
 
Wow, I'm really surprised he managed to get as far as assisting on a session
with Madonna considering this guys "skills". I sympathise with him though, I'm
sure he meant well by making suggestions. As far as dropping that mic,
I'm sure he would have been better off just admitting it. Ya never know, the
owner could have even been happy with his honesty (still raging over the mic
though). How are his burgers? :D

It's really tough though considering there is a zero margin of error when it
comes to the studio. It's the right way, and a good thing (for obvious reasons),
but still tough.

Just one more thing (for now at least :p), I've heard that as an assistant
engineer, you should be described as a "pane of glass with a smile", but how does
one go about being so. Like where should you be, what should you be doing
when you have those few spare minutes (if any). I'd like to be able to sit
there, being available to do anything thats thrown at me. But on the other
I wouldn't like to seem like I'm not doing anything ya know?

Cheers,
Phil
 
philbagg said:
...any tips on the role. Things like etiquette/people skills etc.

I just really really really really don't want to mess up any good opportunities.
Click to expand...

Know how the lead engineer and producers like their coffee. ;)
 
How are his burgers? :D
Click to expand...

Terrible. :D

It's really tough though considering there is a zero margin of error when it
comes to the studio.
Click to expand...

Honestly, it's not that bad. It's just good to scare people the first few months. "Hot Shot" Producers and Engineers still make mistakes. I enjoy seeing a producer flip out when he realizes he forgot to turn on the phantom power. Stupid shit happens ALL the time.

I make mistakes all the time. I think the way you handle it is what sticks.

Much luck. Let us know how it turns up.
 
Cheers Lee, for all your help :D

You've eased my worry a fair bit.

That's only if I get called in for sessions now. Although I'm hoping I will. I'll
make sure to give you a shout :)
 
I back up everything Lee has said (nice job, Lee ;) ). I'd also just add a couple of small things:

Knowing how to work a wicked soldering iron and multitester is a big plus. Making yourself useful during off-session time (even if you're not getting paid for it) repairing cables, keeping the studio clean and organized, etc., will take you a long way. Also, if it's an analog tape facility, knowing/learning early the proper way to clean/demag the tape heads, degauss tapes, etc.is a plus.

As The others mentioned, though, initiative is great, but not without permission; don't mess with their "system" without asking first; the owner/lead engineer is the master of his/her domain and won't appreciate coming in to find the mic closet re-organized by surprise, even if your idea is superior to the mess that was there.

Know the studio schedule by heart, who is working what and where and who the clients are, and which studio they'll be in, even if you're only scheduled for one yourself. The more you know what's going and and the less surprised or befuddled you look, both to the staff and to the clients wandering the halls looking for the bathroom, the better.

Ask questions and learn as much as you can, and let your bosses know that you're interested and want to learn, but know when and where to do so. If you need to know something immediately to do your immediate job, don't be afraid to ask; but if it can wait until the engineer won't be distracted from his own task at hand, then wait until a better time.

G.
 
Cheers Glen those are some really good tips :)

Can I work for one of you guys instead? :D
 
philbagg said:
Can I work for one of you guys instead? :D
Click to expand...
You wouldn't want to work for me. A couple of things I discovered shortly after the first time I became my own boss was that my boss was both a tightwad and a slavedriver. :(

G.
 
LeeRosario said:
5) When dealing with a client, take your cues from your boss and let him do the talking. Trust me on this. I had another colleague of mine that opened his mouth at Madonna and got himself blackballed. He's flippin burgers now. True story.
Click to expand...

Interesting...

My best advice is to not act too proud to clean the toilets or sweep up because that will be what you will be doing for the guys running things.

His advice about holding your tounge arround clients is a very good one...and if asked about the clients performance by anyone allways make sure it is positive...losing a client because of something stupid you said would get you fired arround here in a second.
 
Adding to what's already been said:

I'd be careful of asking questions. They say there's no such thing as a stupid question but trust me, there's plenty of them.

Depending upon who you work for, be careful about control issues. There are managers(insecure) that get irritated at workers taking on responsibilities before they're asked to. But in the same light, if you see something broken, fix it. Stay flexible.

Be willing to volunteer but don't be a pest.
 
Read "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles" by Geoff Emerick.
 
LeeRosario said:
haha, funny you ask, because you kind of touched on it. Well apparently he was assisting a session in New York about 3..maybe 4 years ago...

and so there came a point where Madonna wanted his "opinion" on some take she did or something like that. Everyone else had left the room on a break. Instead of doing the smart "oh I thought it was great" routine, he went and started making suggestions about changes he thought would make the song better.

That was a big no-no. So I guess she was offended by that and brought it up to the studio manager. Long story short, he was let go that day and told he would never work in a studio again.

But also, I wanna add that he did screw up in a couple other occasions. Like I heard he dropped a reallly rare and expensive mic that needed to be sent out for repairs. And instead of being honest about dropping it, he lied to the studio manager and said "I found it like that". Big no no. He got screwed really bad.

In fact, because of that, they actually complained to the school we trained at (Full Sail) and they actually added a "Studio Ettiquette" class because of him. An entire month dedicated to proper manners in the studio.

Unbelievable.

oh one more thing:

*know the roles of everyone in the studio*. The studio manager, secretaries, assistants, runners, head engineers, technicians, etc.
Click to expand...

So, first he gets reamed for not being honest, then he gets fired for being too honest. It sounds a bit like a social obstacle course to me.
 
RawDepth said:
So, first he gets reamed for not being honest, then he gets fired for being too honest. It sounds a bit like a social obstacle course to me.
Click to expand...

You cant be too honest in a recording studio with Madonna...like you cant have too much cooling water around a nuclear reactor...lol...like she really needed advice in that department...she was looking for affirmation most likely.

Ive heard from Nile Rodgers (He was friends with my cousin Lee who used to be married to Nancy Sinatra...and set up my internship) that Madonna was always a consummate professional and could probably have ran her sessions herself...while others like Jeff Beck seemed clueless about what he was going to do...Madonna was always prepared...had a vision...and knew how to communicate it...a dream client.
 
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